Obama’s favorite films list includes two made in Mass.
Former president Barack Obama unveiled his annual list of favorite films of the year, and two movies made in Massachusetts earned spots.
Obama’s 2023 list included a nod for director Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” which stars Paul Giamatti as a disgruntled teacher at a Massachusetts prep school. The movie was shot in the Bay State and re-creates Massachusetts of the 1970s.
The list also included “American Fiction” by director and writer Cord Jefferson, a satire about how Black people are portrayed in all types of media. Drawing Oscar buzz, the filmed-in-Boston movie stars Jeffery Wright as a frustrated author who sets out to prove a point and finds unexpected fame.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s sports drama “Air,” the story of Michael Jordan and Nike’s famed Air Jordan sneaker, also made Obama’s cut, as did 2023 hits like “Oppenheimer,” “Past Lives,” and “Anatomy of a Fall.”
Notably absent from the 44th president’s list was “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the year’s biggest winner at the box office.
Other films that made Obama’s 2023 list were “Monster,” “Polite Society,” “A Thousand and One,” and “Blackberry.”
The former president designated “Rustin,” “Leave the World Behind,” and “American Symphony” as his top three, although he admitted in his social media post to being “biased” since they were all produced by his production company Higher Ground.
Obama recognized the efforts of the strikes in Hollywood this year, praising writers and actors for speaking out “for better working conditions and protections.” “It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better,” Obama wrote in his post.
Last week, the former president shared his list of favorite books from 2023, which included “This Other Eden,” a Maine-set tale by Bay State-born author Paul Harding. Obama’s book list highlighted “King: A Life,” the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. biography by Jonathan Eig, as well as “The Wager” by David Grann, two nonfiction titles that also made the Globe’s list of the year’s best books.